


Walking in a Storm

by DawnKuwabara (orphan_account)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1980s, Alternate Universe - Human, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Barely Legal, Drama, Dysfunctional Family, Implied Childhood Sexual Abuse, Implied Incest, Lucifer is Called Luke, M/M, Riding, Statutory Rape, Underage Drinking, Underage Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-19
Updated: 2015-01-19
Packaged: 2018-03-08 05:17:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3196763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/DawnKuwabara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke’s little brother is sleeping beside him on the bed, naked. Luke is going to kill him if he finds out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Walking in a Storm

**Author's Note:**

> Somehow Crowley/Gabriel took over my life. Special thanks to knottylovessabriel and greenmage128 for looking this over for me. I may expand on this AU verse, but for now this is a one-shot. Just a warning that Gabriel is barely legal. And there is implied parent/child incest.
> 
> Characters except for the parents belong to Eric Kripke and CW.

If Luke finds out about this, he’s going to seriously kill him.

Wherever he is. Two weeks ago, Crowley was practicing drums with singer and guitarist Luke Milton and his acquaintance and Luke’s cousin Balthazar (the bassist) in their thrash metal band in his garage. Having recently arrived in Knoxville, Tennessee from England a year ago, he expected to go somewhere with this band. All three of them are now twenty-four (well Luke is twenty-three). They were considered adults years ago, but sometimes that just meant having the freedom to not grow up yet, and that’s where growing their hair long and playing music with having odd jobs on the side came in. Or maybe it is the other way around.

Now, he hasn’t heard from Luke since a week ago, and Balthazar hasn’t heard from him either, and to be honest, Balthazar just wants everyone to leave him alone because he has more important shit to think about. And in Crowley’s apartment downtown, Luke’s little brother is sleeping beside him on the bed, naked. Luke is going to kill him if he finds out. Actually, it’s a matter of “when,” rather than “if.”

Had it been yesterday, Crowley would have also been considered a statutory rapist, even if the boy initiated it, and the thought leaves an uneasy feeling in the stomach. Gabriel Milton is eighteen today. Actually, as Crowley glances at the alarm clock, he can safely say that he turned eighteen yesterday, since it’s one in the morning. It’s the fifth of September in 1988. Gabriel’s in his last year in highschool, and he’s considered an adult now, suddenly hit with more responsibilities in life. Crowley almost feels bad for Gabriel and what the kid’s going through, having to watch his family fall apart because of his and Luke’s father, including having his brothers fight about it.

Crowley then sighs, sitting up and deciding that he needs a shower. He needs to stop thinking about what’s been going on with that bloody family. He has nothing to do with it, but they haven’t had rehearsed in two weeks and now this kid’s in his bed. It’s starting to piss him off, because all he wants is to make something out of himself. He doesn’t want to be sucked into someone else’s drama, or else he’ll lose himself in it. He doesn’t even consider Luke and Balthazar close friends. They’re just people he likes to play music with. They were going to go somewhere with this.

He accidentally steps on the opened wrapper for the condom he used with Gabriel. Instead of picking it up, he walks away from it as quickly as possible. His head is throbbing. He decides to takes some aspirin first.

___

He takes a piss before turning on the shower. He lets himself in and allows the hot spray of water soak him. He’ll go back to sleep, and not think about what he fucking got himself into until tomorrow, or else he’ll never be able to sleep.

He decides that he’s not going to even bother calling anyone tomorrow. Maybe he should find new people or leave Knoxville completely. He wonders if he should move back to England. Then he decides that he’d rather not.

He applies soap to his body, rubbing off dried sweat and some cum off of his body. The sweat isn’t just his—it’s Gabriel’s too. The drops of dried cum is probably Gabriel’s too, all products of drunken teenage despair mixed with desire and curiosity when Gabe begged him to make him feel good and make him forget. 

The curtain is pulled back a little, and Crowley is startled to see Gabriel, his short, reddish blond hair messy and his amber eyes staring at him. “Can I shower with you?” he asks Crowley.

Crowley sighs and mumbles, “Sure,” before realizing he said that, and by the time he does, Gabriel is already in front of him, turning his back on him as he close his eyes and happily lets the spray of water soak him. Crowley sighs and hands Gabe the bar of soap, tapping his shoulder with it. Gabe turns around and grabs it, thanking him. He decides against watching Gabe wash and rinse himself, thus avoiding any glances on his naked body. After awhile, he steps in the water himself, trying to rinse himself as well. He avoids Gabe’s gaze on him.

“I took some aspirin. My head was hurting,” he tells Crowley. Crowley nods.

“Please don’t throw up, whatever you do.”

“I’m not gonna throw up,” Gabe protests, running his wet hair back. He then leans forward with a small smile, his eyes crinkling and the dimples showing. “I learned my lesson last time.”

Crowley raises an eyebrow. “Yeah, I meant to ask. Since when did you start drinking?”

“Luke lets me have a glass, sometimes.” Of course.

Crowley already knows things about Gabe. He even knew about Gabe’s sexuality, back in the summer, when Gabe snuck into a gay bar and some man tried to make advances on him. Crowley recognized the boy, and he told the much larger man to back off.

Then, when Crowley took Gabe to Luke’s apartment, Gabe begged him not to tell Luke he snuck into a gay bar, admitting that he was never interested in girls. Crowley told him that he never was either. In the end, Gabe told Luke that he snuck into that nightclub across the street, a “normal” club. Luke laughed and told Gabe he should have just asked him to take him. It’s no wonder those two were close.

He never thought much about Gabe after that night until the boy came over this evening, crying about his family, crying about his brother Luke fighting with their oldest brother Michael, and crying about Luke siding against their father. Crowley almost cared enough to wonder why, but then they shared drinks and Gabe starts laughing and crying about having to be strong for his little siblings, especially Castiel, who is starting high school now. He talked about how Castiel and Anna were the only people who remembered his birthday, and Crowley off-handedly wished him a happy birthday. That must have set Gabriel off because then he pressed his body against his. He pressed his lips against his neck in drunken desperation, his inexperience evident.

He cupped Crowley’s cock and begged him to make him feel good. And Crowley, intoxicated as Gabriel was, did.

Crowley doesn’t want to bring up what they did, but there’s a small part of him that wants to make sure he hasn’t damaged anything. They were both drunk, so he doubts what they did was consensual. It feels him with dread. First because this wasn’t supposed to happen, and secondly, he can’t believe that he let Gabe drink. Lastly, he couldn’t stop himself. But Gabriel initiated it. And Crowley said yes. “I suppose you’ve done it before too, right?” he finds himself asking, to see if Gabriel is aware of what they did and to see if he’s at least a little troubled.

Gabe glances at him. “No.” Crowley swallows at that. “I did it with a girl once, but I didn’t feel anything.” He shrugs. “I knew what we were doing, you know? It’s not like you said no.”

Crowley raises an eyebrow at that. “What, you planned this?”

Gabriel stares at Crowley still. “No, it was just the heat of the moment. I wanted you.” He sighs. “Mom’s gonna kill me if she finds out about any of this.” He turns around and lets water wash over him again. “Luke and Mike will probably kill you.” He chuckles nervously. “I guess maybe that’ll be one common ground they have.”

Family drama again. Crowley rolls his eyes, and he’s beginning to think Gabe came here just to get attention. In other words, bringing Crowley into the family drama. 

He remembers the night everything fell apart.

It was one night in June of this year. Luke had Gabe in his apartment with Balthazar and Crowley smoking joints. Apparently, Luke lets Gabe do whatever he wants, which is why Luke would always say that their mother’s been trying to keep Gabe away from him for years now. “And sometimes, Mom doesn’t even want Castiel and Anna near Gabe now,” he told them. Anna, just eight years old, then called, crying. 

Their father, Alfred, was arrested, for rape against a sixteen year old girl. It didn’t matter if she consented.

People said that she is carrying his child, and he refused to acknowledge her, and that’s why she now decided to press charges against him.

It was mess to begin with, and it only became worse after their self-righteous oldest brother Michael, the only one in the family to go to college, came by from New York City to see what was going on. Somehow, Michael felt that he was head of the family while a trial against their dad is impending. Luke became increasingly irritable, mumbling shit about Michael. Soon Luke decided to testify against their father.

The fact that Crowley knows this much about what happened shows how in too deep he is. And Gabriel is here to suck him in even deeper. “Why did you come here?”

Gabe glances at Crowley again, his smile gone. “Nowhere else to go. Chuck moved away.”

Crowley can only assume that that’s a friend of his. He can care less, though. “Listen, I’m not trying to get into whatever’s going on with your family. I don’t even bloody know where Luke is.”

Gabe looks down, avoiding Crowley. “Well,” he begins, “Luke is at his apartment, but he won’t answer,” he murmurs. Before Crowley can say anything else, Gabe shakes his head. “Can we talk about something else?”

Crowley rolls his eyes, and his head is starting to hurt a little again. “Like what?”

Gabe shrugs. “Like, I dunno, man... like, why do you British people say chips, when it’s really fries?” Crowley can only stare at Gabe at such an asinine question.

“You know what? I’m not answering that.”

“You going back to England, though?” After a pause, Gabe continues, “Balthy said he might.”

Crowley looks on incredulously at Gabe. Balthazar never told him this at all. “I…how in the hell is it that you know what’s going on with these two, and they won’t talk to me?” This family. He is so sick of them right now, he just wants to scream. He once again thinks about going home. But it would be hard to avoid drama there, drama from his abusive foster family. And his mother, wherever she is. His adopted family said she went back home to Scotland. They’re probably not wrong. Still, there’s nothing here, and there’s nothing there. What’s the next place that he can make something out of himself? New York City? In hindsight, that’s the _first_ place he should have stopped at.

“I overhear.” Okay, that explains it a little. “And I saw Luke by the window. He wouldn’t answer the phone.” Crowley sighs and says nothing else, and then he blinks as Gabe walks over and wraps his arms around his neck, pulling him close and resting his head against Crowley’s shoulders. Crowley swallows and wonders if he should push him away or not. He hears Gabe whisper, “Thank you.”

“Um, for what?”

“For letting me in.” Gabe looks up at Crowley now, brushing back his wet, shoulder-length brown hair. Crowley’s belly flutters with butterflies. Gabriel is not the ideally attractive teenager, with his overbite and his nose. But Crowley is beginning to find him attractive with those amber eyes and earrings, and the weird new wave hair-style that the boy picked up, and that’s a bad thing. After all, what they did was fueled by alcohol. Crowley would rather keep it that way. He holds his breath as Gabe begins trailing his fingers down Crowley’s chest and then his stomach, exploring his body. He almost jumps as Gabe heads straight for caressing his cock with his fingers. It causes him to shiver at the touch. His entire body’s suddenly on fire. Crowley tries to pull away, physically _and_ mentally, but it’s Gabriel that does, like he isn’t sure if he should have done that. He breaks the silence. “I… I mean, I know you don’t give a shit about what’s going on, but...” Gabe looks down, avoiding his gaze.

Well, Gabe’s right about that. He just wants to go to sleep. Crowley sighs. “Let’s get out before we get pruney,” he says with a yawn. He wiggles out of Gabriel’s embrace and leans towards the faucet to turn off the water.

As soon as he does, Gabe turns him around, and next thing he knows, those luscious wet lips are on his. Crowley’s back is to the wall as Gabe presses his body against his. He doesn’t even have time to register anything until Gabriel breaks the kiss, only to plant kisses to his neck in such a clumsy manner. 

“Gabriel, we shouldn’t…” Crowley’s unable to say anything else after Gabe wraps his hand around his cock, stroking it as he ghosts his lips on the shell of Crowley’s ear.

Gabe looks up at Crowley again, his eyes dark with want, and perhaps neediness. Maybe their first time hasn’t been enough to keep Gabriel distracted from the inevitable collapse of his family and his childhood. Maybe Gabriel jumped in the shower _just_ so that he can do this. “Fuck me,” he whispers, his eyes sad, his breath hot, “again. Please?” 

If Crowley’s cock weren’t given the attention it craved, he would have told Gabe that they needed to sleep. But the truth is, he wants him, and there’s no reason to feel guilty about that. Gabriel’s now a consenting adult. It doesn’t matter that using sex to distract oneself from a shit family isn’t a good coping mechanism, and it doesn’t matter if the other party wants sex to distract himself from the fact that he’s not getting anywhere in life right now. Gabriel can leave tomorrow morning, and he won’t have to think about any of this then. “Towels are in the closet. I’ll be out in a bit.”

___

The towels are left on the floor, with the bathroom light left on, and the only sounds are faint sirens and dogs barking from the outside. Along with these noises are the sound of bed squeaking slightly and the men’s pants in the room. Crowley looks over at Gabriel bucking his hips, shutting his eyes and biting his lip as he runs his lotion-slicked middle finger around Gabe’s swollen rim. They’re lying on their sides, their foreheads touching. He tries not to buck his own hips as Gabe’s hand continues to stroke his hardened cock. He’s suckling on Gabe’s earlobe, careful not to tug on the cross earring, and he pushes his finger in, causing Gabriel to let out a trembling sigh, running his fingers through his hair with his free hand. Crowley looks up at him. “Not hurting you, am I?” Gabriel shakes his head no, one of his legs wrapped around Crowley’s waist.

“C’mon, don’t go soft on me now,” he breathes, pulling Crowley into passionate kiss, brushing his tongue against Crowley’s, as they pant against each other’s mouth. Crowley must have hit a nerve inside Gabriel because Gabe’s letting out a small moan against his lips. It only encourages him to add a second finger, and Gabriel moans again. He does too, when Gabe thumbs on the tip of his cock. Gabe soon becomes impatient and moves down on those fingers. “C’mon, fuck me!” he whines. “Dude, I can handle it…”

Crowley rolls his eyes at this impatient young man, and then mocks him with his American accent, “Dude I can handle it!”

Gabriel only giggles, his amber eyes crinkle in the dark, which makes Crowley’s veins flutter inside him. “That’s not bad…” He moves in and kisses Crowley’s lips again. “I… I’d do a terrible British accent,” he breathes.

“Yeah, please don’t,” is Crowley’s reply before he adds a third finger. This time, Gabriel whines and bucks his hips, and he practically rides Crowley’s fingers. He rests his forehead against Crowley’s again, both of them panting, and moving against one another. Crowley isn’t supposed to get so lost in pleasure from this, especially not with a bandmate’s little brother. Is Luke even a bandmate at this point? As far as Crowley is concerned, the band is on hiatus. Either way, he’s certainly not in love with Gabriel, but he doesn’t think they’ll go further than what they’re doing now, either, even if it’s just sex. This might be the last time, as it should be, so he might as well enjoy it all.

He takes his fingers out of Gabriel, who protests with a moan, and Crowley tries to sit up, but Gabriel sits up as well, his mouth against a tattoo on his bicep. He looks up at Crowley with a faint smile before he leans in and plants soft kisses at his neck, his hand massaging the base of Crowley’s cock. Crowley lets out a trembling sigh from this, small waves of pleasure running through his body. He can’t honestly believe the attention Gabe is giving him. Not that he needs it. In fact, it’s becoming too much now. He doesn’t want anything to do with Gabriel after this, at least not sexually. But what if the kid wants to start something with him?

He takes Gabe’s hand off his cock and moves away, climbing out of the bed and walking to his nightstand. He takes out a condom from the drawer, ignoring the loud awkward silence in the bedroom. He can feel Gabriel’s eyes on him. Sure enough, he happens to glance at his direction, and he finds himself with a lump stuck in his throat. Because Gabriel’s just sitting Indian-style and casually staring at him. Crowley shuts the nightstand drawer and climbs back in to the bed. “Something about me that you find interesting?”

“Yeah, you,” Gabe immediately replies with a faint smile, lying down on his back as he watches Crowley rip open the condom wrapper. Crowley glances at him lying comfortably for a second before putting the condom on his cock. “I like it when you look at me,” Gabriel whispers, stretching out his leg to rub Crowley’s cock with his toes.

Crowley scoffs, shoving Gabe’s foot away, and he protests, “Hey! Quit it!” This only causes Gabe to laugh.

“Trying to get you in the mood, man,” Gabe chuckles. “You hardly talk, and you act like you don’t want this.” He then speaks in a quieter tone, “You wanted it last time.”

Crowley looks at him then, and he sighs, leaning in to rub his hand against Gabe’s cock, causing Gabe to shut his eyes and bite his lip. He almost smirks at him. “The only reason I’m hesitant is because your brothers are gonna fucking murder me, just like you said.” That is only partially true. He’s hesitant because this time, they’re both more or less sober, and therefore consensual.

Gabe moans softly before opening his eyes and glancing down at him. “Why? You gonna tell him about our business?” Before Crowley can speak, Gabe sits up slightly. “He doesn’t have to know, dude.” His voice softens as he continues, “Don’t be so damn paranoid. It’s my birthday. What’s wrong with a little birthday sex?”

Crowley almost trembles as he begins rubbing lotion over his sheathed cock, trying to get back into the mood as Gabe says these words. It just makes him hot how this kid—no he’s not a kid anymore—is so into this, like it’s their little secret. Just like it was their little secret that Gabriel snuck into that gay bar.

“Besides,” Gabriel continues, “why do you owe Luke anything? He doesn’t bother to call you to see what you guys were fucking doing with the band. You don’t know Michael period. It’s just one night with you.” He thumbs his own cock, his eyes not leaving Crowley’s. “And in the morning, I’ll leave and that’ll be it.” His smile is faint the entire time he tries to convince Crowley that it’s just sex, that it’s just a one-night thing, and that he has no intention of going further with him. After all, Gabriel is only eighteen. He has plenty of years to find a steady, long-term partner. He can move out of the shithole that is Knoxville and be himself, and get away from the family drama. “Don’t even have to talk about it.” He pauses and adds, “Okay?”

Crowley spreads Gabe’s legs and leans down to kiss him, tugging his top lip before Gabe mirrors his actions, bringing Crowley closer with his hand on his ass. “And what about your parents?” he whispers, bringing his cock to Gabe’s entrance. “What’ll your dad and mum think when their golden child has a man’s cock up his ass?”

“I was never their favorite, so fuck them,” Gabriel breathes before gasping a little from Crowley’s cock filling him up. “Mm-god!” He clutches his one-time lover’s arms, and Crowley has to rub at his sides, kissing his neck to try and soothe him, all the while ignoring the tight heat engulfing him. Holy shit.

He doesn’t remember this feeling this good the last time.

“Shh, relax, Gabe,” he whispers shakily, ghosting his lips against the shell of his ear, fighting back a groan threatening to come out from his throat. He sighs shakily from Gabe whining about how big Crowley is. He wonders if Gabe even remembers how hard he fucked him last time. He can remember that, but now how good it felt. Once the tip is inside, he waits before sliding in further, nuzzling against Gabe’s neck, as he bottoms out. “Thassit, yeah, just like that...” He feels Gabe’s lips on the shell of his ear and a hand combing through his hair. He can hear Gabe’s soft moans as he begins pulling out before pushing back in, very slow, because he wants Gabe to feel his cock touch every nerve inside him. He wants Gabe to cry out his name again.

“Yeah...” Gabriel breathes, loving the slow fucking, wanting this to last forever. They kiss, their tongues brushing against each other, and they pant into each other’s lips. Crowley undulates his hips in a still slow pace, thrilling from Gabe’s massaging his ass with his hands, wanting him in deeper. “You know you’re not my first, right?”

Crowley doesn’t realize Gabe said that, until he leans up to look down at him.

“I had someone before,” he breathes, “from that bar, two years ago.” Gabe gasps as Crowley thrusts again.

Crowley doesn’t want to hear anymore of it, but he picks up the pace, causing Gabriel to whine. “Stop talking,” Crowley pants.

Gabriel clutches the bed sheets while Crowley sits up on his knees, gripping the teenager’s hips before he thrusts, and Gabe whines, wrapping his legs around Crowley’s waist. Gabe soon reaches for his cock and starts jerking himself, panting as Crowley pounds into him. Crowley finds himself closing his eyes so he can really get himself into the mood. He doesn’t want to think about the aftermath of this or how Gabe is feeling. He can think about what the future holds tomorrow morning. For now, he lets Gabe’s hitched breaths and whimpers and pleas to fuck him harder. The noises the teenager makes lace with the squeaking bed and Crowley’s own breathing.

He opens his eyes only to see Gabe’s eyes shut tight and his mouth wide open, thumbing his own cock with his other arm gripping the headboard. For some reason, he doesn’t remember how Gabe looked the first time, and now that he’s almost completely sober, he can see the way his eyebrows slant upward away from his middle of his face, like he’s getting ready to cry. Indeed, he can see a small tear coming down from one of his eyes. He almost stops, but then he realizes that Gabe’s facial expression is not out of sadness or distress. It’s an expression of relief. Relief means that he’s feeling something he hasn’t felt in awhile, and it’s a good something. He feels so good. Crowley is making him feel so damn good. Sex can distract him from the problems his family is facing.

And Crowley knows all about this because Crowley is the same way, too. If he’s shacking up with someone, it’s to distract himself, to let go. Gabe probably looked like this the last time, but for Crowley to see it now...

Crowley finds himself being pulled down into a long and hot kiss. Gabe slides his tongue inside, desperate to taste Crowley’s again, yearning for his lips and his skin as the teenager kisses his nose, his cheek. His hot breath dampens Crowley’s skin, and he finds himself mirroring Gabe, kissing his neck, running a tongue up his jaw, panting against Gabe’s lips. He slows down his thrusts. He wants to really feel Gabe’s insides against his cock. He undulates his hips again, causing Gabe to moan happily. “Fuck, you like that?” he finds himself whispering against the teenager’s ear.

“Mhmm...”

A low moan escapes Crowley’s lips, and it laces with Gabriel’s moans as waves of pleasure flow down Crowley’s entire body each time he moves and feels Gabe’s nails dig in his skin. He closes his eyes again, letting himself relax.

It takes him a moment before he realizes that Gabriel said something. He leans up, then, raises an eyebrow at him.

“You said something?”

“Yeah, lie down on your back,” Gabe breathes, leaning up to kiss him. The kiss is chaste. He gives him a faint and tired smile. “Wanna try something...”

Before Crowley can blink, he’s suddenly on his back, with Gabriel straddling his lap. He takes Crowley’s cock in front of him, and... Holy fuck. Crowley presses his head back against the pillow and moans with Gabe as the teen slowly sinks down on his cock, pausing to get used to the feeling. Crowley has to ask himself why he is surprised with Gabe doing this. Before he knows it, he breathes, “That guy taught you this?”

Gabriel takes Crowley’s hands and entwines Crowley’s fingers with his. “No, the second guy I slept with.” And as Gabe moves up and down on his cock, Crowley decides that he honestly doesn’t care anymore if Gabriel is telling the truth or lying about whether or not he had been with those two men. All he wants is for Gabe to ride him, hard and fast. Gabriel doesn’t do that. He instead undulates his hips, bringing Crowley’s hands to them before he settles his own hands on his chest, panting.

Crowley closes his eyes and lifts his hips, fucking up into Gabe as Gabe sinks down. Although Crowley wanted him to go fast, this slow pace causes pleasure to shoot down his spine. He curls his toes, he runs his hands up Gabe’s chest, and he finds himself whispering Gabe’s name. And when he says this, he sees Gabriel’s eyes widen at him, the same distressed-slash-relief look as he jerks himself in such an erratic manner, increasing his pace a little. Perhaps the first two men never called out his name. Gabe’s moans become high-pitched, and that just causes Crowley to look away, closing his eyes. He doesn’t want to get attached, he doesn’t want to be coming back for more, and he sure doesn’t want Gabe wanting more from him. But then Gabriel opens his mouth and speaks.

“I’ve wanted you,” he breathes, “ever since I first laid eyes on you, wanted to make you feel good.” Crowley refuses to open his eyes as his stomach flutters inside from such a confession (despite Gabriel’s reassurance that it’ll be just one night). Crowley can’t find the words to respond to that because he’s just so under the teen’s spell now. This can’t happen. He refuses to get attached. He refuses to want to protect Gabe and let him in. “Please look at me, Crowley,” he hears Gabe’s breathless and trembling plea. And Crowley does.

Gabe whimpers and comes on his chest, and before long, Crowley comes too, hearing Gabe sob his name.

Crowley can see stars. He trembles. He calls out Gabe’s name again and bucks his hips.

___

An hour later, the used condom and the wrapper are in the small trash bin. The only sounds now are one dog barking, and the occasional car zooming down the road. Soon, lightening fills the room, and a loud crack of thunder startles Crowley awake.

As he hears droplets of rain hit the roof and the ground, he glances at Gabe, whose back is facing him. He swears under the breath. Although it rains a lot back in England, he is not used to the lightening and thunder. He remembers the weather report a week ago detailing a tornado hitting a town north of Chattanooga.

Once again, he’s mentally going back and forth about the pros and cons of staying here in this city or go somewhere else where he’ll actually have progress with his life. And steer clear of drama and relationships. Easier said than done now that Gabe said those words. About how he wanted him. Then again, it could just mean he wanted Crowley for those two times. He can’t tell.

Gabriel stirs and turns around to face Crowley for a second. Then, he closes his eyes again. A rumble of thunder cracks outside, and Crowley gives up trying to sleep then.

“Do you have these nights where you something you’ve repressed all your life keeps...” Crowley blinks up at Gabriel, who simply stares at the ceiling. He has an expression in his face that says he has seen something quite horrifying. “Just realize how fucked up my family is...” his voice increasingly becomes unstable.

Crowley sees Gabriel swallow before he finds himself in an embrace. He gulps and is about to ask what Gabriel is doing as the teenager straddles his leg and buries his face between Crowley’s neck and shoulder. It isn’t long before he hears sniffling, and Crowley looks down to see Gabriel with tears in his eyes. What he’s seeing is not a young man but a boy who is scared for his family. This family. He’s so tired of being dragged into this. And yet, curiosity is gnawing on Crowley, wanting to know what really happened and why Gabe said that.

His heart beats rapidly when he puts two and two together, and the dread drops to his stomach, like he wants to throw up.

“What did your dad do to you, Gabe?”

Gabriel lifts his head up, his eyes glossy and rimmed red. He shakes his head, then. “It wasn’t me he did it to,” he whispers, his voice struggling to come out.

Crowley doesn’t ask who it was then, because given what he knows about Luke testifying against their dad, it just all makes sense now. And all he wants to do now is protect Gabriel from worse, tell him that things will be okay, or that it won’t be the end if things aren’t. However, Gabe’s body melting against his sends Crowley thinking about things he shouldn’t be, not as the teenager is crying about a traumatic incident he can no longer repress. And really, what if Alfred does something to Gabriel’s younger siblings?

Gabriel stares up at Crowley still, lifting his hand to caress his cheek. Crowley wants to question his actions, but Gabriel’s sad, amber eyes keeps his mouth shut. Gabriel raises his eyebrows at him. “Crowley?” Crowley looks up at him, letting him know Gabriel has his attention. Hearing his name come out of Gabriel’s mouth almost feels foreign. “Crowley” is not even his real name, and he refuses to disclose his real name to anyone, even Balthazar. _Especially_ Balthazar. But there’s a small part of him that wants to tell Gabriel. “You know that what I said back there, that I wanted you, was true, right?” 

Crowley sighs. What can he possibly say to that? He can’t bring himself to turn Gabriel down but he can’t say yes either. 

Gabriel brushes Crowley’s locks back. “Can you wish me a happy birthday again?” Gabriel’s voice is soft and broken. He sniffles again.

Crowley then whispers, “Happy belated birthday.”

Gabriel bites his lower lip. Then he leans in and plants a soft kiss to Crowley’s lips. He breaks the kiss, only to kiss him again, this time passionately. He presses his body against Crowley’s as Crowley finds himself wrapping his arms around Gabriel. Then Gabe pulls away, and as he does, he gives Crowley a soft smile, a tear running down his cheek. “Thank you.” He then rests his head against Crowley’s chest.

Crowley sighs and tries to get some sleep, especially since Gabe’s steady and slow breathing indicates that he’s beginning to fall asleep as well. He glances at the alarm clock. It’s three in the morning. He has to get up in four hours to head for work. He glances down at Gabe again, whose eyes are definitely closed, and all he can do now is glance at the ceiling, thinking about what he’s gotten himself into.

If Luke finds out about this, he’s going to seriously kill him.


End file.
